Confused about the sizes of whisky casks? A little explanation here:
The word "Cask" refers to any container made of wooden staves bound together by metal hoops used to store the distilled spirit during maturation. There are four cask sizes commonly used by the whisky industry (from right to left):
Port Pipe
Tall, elegant oak cask originally used for maturing port.
Butt
A type of cask which holds approximately 500 liters/132 gallons. This is the largest cask generally used in Scottish Distilleries.
Hogshead
250 liter/66 gallon cask. This is the ideal and most common size of cask in which to mature Scotch Whisky.
Barrel
A type of cask which holds approximately 190 liters/50 gallons. This is the standard size for maturing bourbon.
All things being equal, the larger the cask the slower the maturation. Conversely, a smaller cask means that the maturing whisky is exposed to more wood and maturation is quicker.
Most of our barrel products come in three different finishes:
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Rustic: natural untreated wood and metal bands |
Stained: wood and metal lightly coated with a protective stain |
Stained & Painted: wood lightly coated with a protective stain, metal bands painted black |
